It was alleged that Detective Sergeant Mottau breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour, as set out in Regulation 21 of the Police (Conduct) Regulations

A police misconduct hearing chaired by Ms Nicola Talbot-Hadley, a legally qualified chair was held at Thames Valley Police Headquarters, Kidlington, Oxford between Monday (24/4) and (27/4) to consider allegations amounting to gross misconduct made against Detective Sergeant Andrew Mottau of the South East Counter Terrorism Unit.

In summary, the facts of the alleged misconduct were that he placed or caused to be placed a black toy monkey on the desk of a black female member of staff to indicate when it was her turn to make the tea and that his behaviour therefore breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to authority, respect and courtesy, equality and diversity and discreditable conduct.

The misconduct panel concluded that the allegations of gross misconduct against Detective Sergeant Mottau were not proven, summarising that they did not find that his words, conduct or actions amounted to racist bullying or harassing behaviour.

The panel found that he had breached the standards of Professional Behaviour amounting to misconduct with regard to authority, respect and courtesy and discreditable conduct, but not equality and diversity. It concluded that the misconduct was at the lower end of the scale and as such, he should be given management advice.

Following the misconduct hearing, Deputy Chief Constable John Campbell said: “The independently chaired panel has come to its findings following a detailed examination of the evidence presented during this public hearing.

“The Force publishes information about public misconduct or special case hearings and all misconduct hearing outcomes on the Thames Valley Police website.”